RUMSFELD TO 'HANG-OUT WITH OLD BUDDY'

Donald Rumsfeld who resigned his position as Secretary of Defence today will "take a week or two off to visit with old friends before deciding on his future."

A Pentagon spokeman told the Kiwi Herald that Mr Rumsfeld planned to spend a few days "hanging about with an old buddy in Baghdad. Both of the great men have known the ups and downs of public life. They'll have alot to talk about I'm sure; like where the WMD's are hidden."

Mr Rumsfeld was unavailable for personal comment about his future plans but through an an aide re-iterated some famous Rumsfeld wisdom.
"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started," the satement began before repeatng the much quoted Rumsfeld adage: "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

Asked to sum up Rumsfeld's contribution to the Iraq a Pentagon spokesman responded- "As you know, you go to war with the Secretary of Defence you have, not the Secretary of Defence you might want."

Rumours that Mr Rumsfeld will pursue a career in stand-up comedy are not being discounted by observors. His showreel is available here